Can we teach students to develop critical thinking using an online environment? A demonstration of critical thinking ought to result in an information structure which shows the key concepts relevant to the issue in a defensible functional relationship.  A concept map is one depiction of this information structure and thus is a part of, but by no means the complete demonstration of critical thinking.  However, concept maps appear to me to be a very useful part of learning and demonstrating critical thinking ability.  A concept map can be evaluated in terms of the completeness of both the identification of all the relevant concepts and the depiction of the functional relationships which link them.  Traditional approaches to quantitatively scoring concept maps seem to stop at about this level.  However, I think we should go further.  Beyond the depiction of a concept map, I expect students to be able to offer solid, logical, corroborated defenses of their choice of concepts and linking relationships and to cast these into coherent logical statements.  The practice of developing these defenses can be an intensely social element of learning and rehearsing critical thinking skills, particularly if it occurs in a collaborative environment.

Of course, if one links all the statements of defence together, then a single coherent report emerges, which is the ultimate goal and, I think, is the assessable outcome of a student's effort. I would expect that, with practice, the formal construction of the concept map may disappear, but the discipline of logically analyzing an issue and synthesizing comment on it in an orderly way would remain.

Using a free software tool called Cmap tools from the Institute for Human and Machine Cognition in Florida (http://cmap.ihmc.us/ ), teachers can encourage students to build concept maps on the computer.  Although concept mapping can be done on a tabletop with a pen, the main difficulty is that it is very time consuming to make revisions to the map.  The advantage of the software tool is that it allows you to nest, merge, change links, etc thus removing much of the 'housekeeping' which will help students focus on the map.  Also the software tool allows for remote collaboration, with a chat tool, so the students could be anywhere working together on their concept maps or better still, they could be in small groups (face-to-face) having online collaborations with other small groups.  Research indicates that human interaction is powerful in stimulating brain function, and this would be a better scenario.

To run the collaboration facility, you will need access to a Cmap server. I have one running in the Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources and would be keen to collaborate with anyone who wished to use it.

Student reaction to concept mapping using Cmap Tools, in the first year, was mixed. Some of the students thoroughly enjoyed the experience and reported that it helped them understand what they were studying. Others, perhaps more used to having an intellectual scaffold provided for them, considered it a diversion of little value. I think (and hope) that the latter perspective is a reflection of past study traditions rooted in content - rather than generic skills-based curricula.

I have found another use for concept maps, which is the analysis and construction of policy documents. The visual illustration of the consequences of policy is a powerful planning tool which has generally been enthusiastically received and used among those with whom I have shared it.

There is an extensive literature on the subject of concept mapping, perhaps not completely satisfying. The web site above has a range of documents embedded in it. There is also at least one international conference a year organized around the theme of concept maps and learning.